what i learned in human resource management essay

what i learned in human resource management essay

The Evolution and Key Concepts of Human Resource Management: An Analytical Essay

1. Introduction to Human Resource Management

HRM was designed to serve the needs of its stakeholders. Although we consider these to be the employees, the organization was often considered as the stakeholder which needed to be served, with top management acting as stockholders. The needs of employees, rather than the needs of the organization, were the focus. The HRM field, hence, lacked a unifying framework. After searching numerous keywords on human resource management topics extracted from a number of recently published books in the area of Human Resource Management, we noted that the contribution of human resource management in organization success lay in managing people effectively and that strategic management of human resource minimized the financial risk for an organization. Along with that HRM not only assures that the business will survive, but it can also contribute to the firm’s growth and profitability.

In reviewing state-of-the-art text in human resource management, a number of recurring themes appear. The following resource can assist teachers in learning more about the evolution of HRM and the influence of HRM in both the external and internal environment. Researchers have investigated the question of how HRM departments can add value to an organization. The comparison has been made between personnel practices which support an organization’s business strategy and those practices that lead to increased business productivity. The argument has been made that effective HRM practices can result in increased employee performance, improved financial success, and improved customer service.

2. Key Theories and Concepts in Human Resource Management

The HRM environment is built on the conscious removal of uncertainty, trust, encouragement of voice, and promoting a sense of justice. Furthermore, it is built on encouraging pride and identification and promoting a sense of security.

The transformation has provided individuals with greater opportunities and choice, but this very factor now makes the management of minds rather than hands critical. This increasing prominence of ‘people’ and the ‘world of work’ has lent pride of place to the domain of HRM. The two approaches of re-engineering and total quality that now dominate the industrial horizon are totally people-oriented and find satisfaction in their mental faculties, utilization of their potential, efficient use of their time, their loyalty and commitment, and continuous personal learning and development.

Moreover, the recent explosion of knowledge has resulted in ‘brain gain’ becoming the primary factor of production. Such transformations have brought new and powerful concepts that have forced changes in the practice of management and the evolution of new systems as in the case of HRM. From pre-industrialization through the scientific management era to the computer age, the environment of the enterprise is not what it used to be and changes in social value structures, employee relations, and organizational structure and purpose are not mere modifications but fundamental alterations brought about by these economic revolutions.

The saga of HRM is truly an eventful and explosive journey in organization theory and development with an overwhelming influence on the quality of workplace relationships. The protracted economic revolutions have managed to change the very fabric of society which, in turn, needed urgent recognition in the style and nature of management of the enterprises.

The premise of this paper is to take a look at both the historical evolution and current domain of Human Resource Management (HRM) and thereby the integration of HRM with the strategic management of the organization. We have used an analytical technique to achieve these objectives. Our own perception of HRM and its relation with the literature provides us with an appropriate framework within which the analysis is made. Subsequently, the key elements emerging from the essay are subjected to critical discussion.

3. Practical Applications and Case Studies in Human Resource Management

Corporate efforts directed ultimately toward expanding economic usage while employee activities work except in such instances as educational requirements which reflect external constraints originating from societal actions. Documentation such as the latter mentioned for companies in this volume should help HRM researchers further evaluate the presumably optimal choice of a combination from incentives and control mechanisms that will enhance firm objectives. Current HRM models have the potential of increasing confidence in notions about the rational behavior of firms and employees by increasing their flexibility, an added advantage of using such models. Small firms likewise increasingly enter HRM as a field of study. For example, the Small Business Institute has shown how small businesses can help meet their needs for routine research investigations including HRM data at local business schools. These research projects often result in first-time data gathering in a controlled, potentially innovative, interesting situation and setting from which publishable research results might develop.

Human resource management as a field of study has taken on increased significance in recent years, with its academic literature, periodic conferences, and multi-discipline research supporting continued growth and broader respect. This segment discusses its application in the private and public sectors, offering a business perspective from both major companies and small firms. It also offers a new chapter concerning some cases from nonprofit organizations. Topics include the benefits gained from formal training programs, career progression in a major energy company, an employee assistance program of concern to all businesses in the U.S. considering the broad public implications of alcohol and substance abuse, collective bargaining as related to the search and improving productivity of employees, a major company attempting to provide long-term assurances to its workforce, and career progression and evolution through employment interruptions of corporate employees.

4. Challenges and Future Trends in Human Resource Management

The future is always an interesting topic for speculative consideration. Here three challenge themes are identified. First, HRM has to refine its contribution to employee competence management. This connects to the human resources research agenda at the macro level via the general question: how should countries develop the human capital that will sustain and further advance their comparative advantage in an increasingly globalizing economy with an increasingly integrated business world? The competencies needed will change continuously at company and country levels due to rapidly evolving scientific knowledge, requirements linked to innovative capabilities, and institutional change. Concentrating upon what can go right with human ‘systems’ is important, yet avoiding and reducing disorder is a significant ongoing and increasing concern in the world of work. Second, HRM may have to find out, as project work increases, how to create and sustain organizational commitment among the temporary workforce. As change has become a constant, commitment is like entropy in the universe; it has become increasingly important. Omission of the substance of psychological contract-related employment relationships may be deleterious as it may erode the capacity of systems to self-organize and cooperate, and may undermine work group relations more generally. Lore on professional versus notions of managerial hybrid management capabilities already provides interesting challenges for future education and people management work. How to find secure talented and capable leaders and followers appears to be increasingly important, and the boundary factors that serve to constrain the too exploitative exercised selfishness of managers in their roles are seen to move higher up the decisive psychological decision tree. Third, crises, unforeseen events, and pressures require competences directed at effective decision-making under adverse conditions. At the international and global scale, crucial joint problem-solving effort requirements are becoming more pressing. Such problems have allowed labels such as ‘wicked issues’ to emerge and require perhaps supranational capabilities and competences. In sum, when the prevalence of contingent working (including flexibility as a pretext for opaqueness issues, the fragility of trust, unemployment, declining HRM capability, and the evolving global and European labor context is also taken into account, the organizational embeddedness and the humanization trend may be even more suggested and should not be too readily and uncritically questioned. The critical community is growing, and the strains which have led to the development of Psychological Contract research literature will not abate. In order to be able to cope with some of the generic challenges, the application of recent capable HRM insights will become one of the needs of tomorrow.

The evolutionary progression and development of the HRM concept are reviewed. One of its third-wave models, the Responsibilities Model, is evaluated and discussed. Originating from the US with their own distinctive histories, American and European HRM practices are contrasted. Since the mid-1970s, HRM research on individual performance, service climate, and the psychological contract has been increasingly using a strategic management approach. Opportunities for HRM-related research and applications are identified following the critical literature review and analysis. Ongoing translation activities from OB to public health have served as experimental testbeds for the development of human resources using HRM-related perspectives, principles, and solutions. Such psycho-social translations are discussed here.